New Canadian Language Tools Available Online
The federal government has launched the Language Portal of Canada giving users free online access to a very useful set of tools to make understanding and effectively using both of Canada's official languages easier. The French is available at Portail linguistique du Canada.
Run by the Translation Bureau at Public Works, this new site includes TERMIUM Plus®, a terminology data bank with about 4 million terms in English and French, as well as more than a dozen writing tools. An example of the writing tools is The Canadian Style, which answers questions about written English in the Canadian context - on topics like abbreviations, capital letters, frequently confused words and Canadian geographical names. It also includes advice on drafting letters, memos, reports, indexes and bibliographies.
More on Canada's Official Languages
Bilingualism in Canada
Learn French - About.com
Learn English as a Second Language - About.com
Comments
For the moment this seems somewhat puzzling but after a little more understanding of the new format, this should be quite a helpful and useful tool. Particularly useful will be The Canadian Style, which will permit greater understanding of the advantages provided by the new “language”.